The people of the Manguredjipa region in North-Kivu call the professionalization of their palm oil industry a revolution. For decades they have made use of the numerous palm trees growing in the wild. But the exploitation and organization of their activities was amateurish. What began as a project of the Centre d’Animation pour la Culture et le Développement de Kirumba (CACUDEKI) to help the palm oil farmers to generate higher incomes grew to entail much more. Now the project involves the whole community and has potential to lift the region out of poverty.

The absence of a good market for the corn farmers in Luvungo forced them to sell their maize to buyers in Rwanda. Once it was processed into flour, they would buy it back for a higher price. Not surprisingly, the farmers were hardly making a profit. They lacked the skills, knowledge and cooperation to professionalize their farming activities. The Union Paysanne pour le Développement Intégral (UPDI), a local partner organization of Oxfam Novib, was determined to bring change in the life of these farmers. They helped them to professionalize and to unite them into cooperatives.